Many conventional electrophotograhic printers include a photoconductor drum having a seam region on its outer surface. As part of a normal printing process, cleaning oil is used to remove toner or ink from the outer surface of the photoconductor. Typically, this oil accumulates over time within the seam region.
Conventional electrophotographic printers also include a charging device, such as a charge roller for imparting a charge onto the outer surface of the photoconductor prior to the writing of an image, via an exposure device, onto the photoconductor. However, in conventional printers in which the charge roller provides the charge via rolling contact against the photoconductor, the charging roller sometimes picks up oil from the seam region because the charging roller drops too far into the seam region when the seam region passes underneath the charging roller. This oil on the charging device, in turn, sometimes results in image defects or otherwise degrades image quality. Moreover, this misplaced oil can increase the chances of arcing between the charge roller and a ground plane of the photoconductor.
While some attempts have been made to better regulate the position of a charge roller relative to a seam region of a photoconductor, conventional solutions fall short of achieving the desired positioning of a charge roller while maintaining a desired charge on the photoconductor.